The Hanging Man IX - The Free Diver marked a quiet turning point for the series.

Until then, The Hanging Man had been populated almost entirely by male figures—workers, athletes, and ordinary individuals carrying different forms of endurance and expectation. That changed because of a collector.

After The Baseball Player found its home, Brion reached out again. This time, he was looking for a work for his wife. Rather than simply adapting an existing idea, the conversation made me realize that the series itself could grow.

It became the first opportunity to introduce a female figure into The Hanging Man.

The swimmer felt like the natural choice. Suspended between movement and stillness, she carries the same quiet tension that connects the series, but with a different rhythm. Strength becomes grace, endurance becomes patience, and persistence becomes trust in the next breath.

I painted the work because I believed the story belonged in the series. Whether it eventually joined their collection was left entirely to them.

Fortunately, it did.

Later, Brion told me that the two paintings now hang opposite one another and that his wife stops to look at hers each day as she passes through the hall.

I like to think that The Baseball Player and The Diver continue their conversation there. One introduced a collector to the series. The other expanded what the series itself could become.